Body-bolster for cars.



PATENTED JULY 5,1904. J. M. HOPKINS. BODY BOLSTER FOR CARS.

APPLIUATION FILED APR. 20, 1904.

N0 MODEL.

64A oa j I Patented July 5, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES M. HOPKINS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BODY-BOLSTER FOR CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 763,978, dated July 5, 1904.

Application filed April 20, 1904. Serial No. 203.988. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be .it known that I, JAMES M. HOPKINS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Body-Bolsters for Cars, of which the following is a specification and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

This invention relates to metal body-bolsters for cars; and its object is to provide for the distribution of the strains of the load longitudinally through the bolster, so that the weight of the load as a whole tends to counteract the tendency of the weight applied to the outer ends of the bolster to break the latter downwardly. This object is attained by so constructing the bolster that the weight of the load is transmitted therefrom to a wedgeshaped member, the wedge faces of which are seated against correspondingly-inclined faces formed in the under side of the bolster. As shown in the accompanying drawings, this wedge-shaped member constitutes the center plate which rests upon the truck-bolster.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a bolster embodying the invention, the removable or center-plate section being shown as detached. Fig. 2 is a detail central vertical longitudinal section of the bolster, the removable section being in place; and Fig. 3 is a detail section on the line 3 of Fig. 1, Figs. 2 and 3 being drawn to a larger scale than Fig. 1.

The body of the bolster is shown at 10 and may be of any suitable form. The lower face of the bolster is centrally apertured, as shown at 11, the side walls 13 13 of such aperture flaring.

The removable or center-plate sectionl i of the bolster has side walls 15 15, which are inclinedcorrespondingly to the walls 13 13, and the hub portion 16 projects upwardly from this plate and is adapted to enter the central recess 17, leading from the bottom of the aperture 11.

Bolts 18 18 may be inserted through the side walls 15 15 of the plate 14 and through the walls 13 13, the apertures 19 19 in the latter being elongated vertically, so as to admit of some vertical movement of the plate relatively as to the bolster.

It will be understood that the center-plate section 14 of the bolster is adapted to rest upon the bolster of the truck (not shown) and that the load-to wit, the weight of the carbody and its contentsis transmitted to the truck through this plate. The wedge form of the plate necessarily distributes the strains of this load as transmitted from the body-bolster to the plate 14:, directing them laterally in part. Differently stated, as the load crowds the body-bolster downwardly upon the plate the Wedge form of the latter tends to spread the walls 13 13 apart, implying a tendency to deflect the outer ends of the bolster upwardly.

The weight of the car-body and its contents being applied in part to the ends of the bodybolster which are not directly supported tends to bend these ends downwardly. This tendency is counteracted by the deflection of a part of the load as a whole as transmitted to the plate 14 longitudinally as to the bolster.

I claim as my invention 1. In combination, a bolster having a central tapering aperture in its under face, and a center plate of corresponding form seated Within such aperture.

2. In combination, a bolster having a central tapering aperture in its under face, a center plate of corresponding form seated within such aperture, and bolts passing through JAMES M. HOPKINS.

WVitnesses:

W. W. DARROW, M. BRACEWELL. 

